According to Jorge Castillo and Aiden Gonzalez of ESPN, a Major League Baseball investigation revealed that a top teenage prospect who had verbally agreed to join the San Diego Padres lied about his age by five years.
The adolescent, Cesar Altagracia, is from the Dominican Republic. The orally agreed-upon deal was apparently valued around $4 million because he was considered one of the finest in his class.
However, the deal was withdrawn after an examination revealed that Altagracia is not 14 years old, but rather 19, as his documentation said.
According to the report, both the Padres and an MLB spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Dominican Baseball Federation is also looking into the situation further, as Altagracia competed in the country’s U-12 Baseball World Cup in 2022 and the U-15 Pan American Championships this summer under a false age.
Altagracia would have been eligible for the contract in January 2027, as a 16-year-old international free agent, but that is no longer the case.
This is not the first time an amateur international player has lied about their age in order to appear to be a better potential. Players who are found to have lied are often punished with a one-year suspension before reapplying for the majors.
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